We Run To Be Free

Project Information

About the project

LOCKLINEBEAUTIFUL … a carefree state of mind for the young, wild and free. But once you're out... it's never the same.

Beautiful… a carefree state of mind for the young, wild and free.

This is the state of mind that Eva and her friends find themselves in. Together they are ‘The Beauties’. The girls that can afford to do anything, thinking that they are truly untouchable to the struggles of the world. The Beauties don’t need anything but each other: boys are just there for fun and love is a notion that they have left behind.

However, the world of the beauties is an escape, an illusion that slowly loses its beauty for Eva. But once out of Beautiful…, nothing is ever the same.

"We Run To Be Free’ is a story of the first steps toward adulthood; about how Eva continues to escape from her own actions and grief through a facade.

“We run to be free from pain, from reality. It works. By running, and finding yourself in the BEAUTIFUL state of mind, you are able to be free… Until you see what you really didn’t want to see…Still you keep running, thinking that if you just run fast enough, it will disappear; however… the faster you run, the bigger the pain gets. You become destructive, desperately holding on to the illusion… until it starts to fall apart and you slowly realize that there is no way out, that you never actually left behind the pain, but carried it with you all along."

My desire as a filmmaker is to visualize the human experience. I like to base my stories on my own experiences in the hope to shed light on our inner world.

With ‘We Run To Be Free’ I want to explore adolescent struggles of friendship and self-worth and make them relatable. I want to make a film about Eva’s experience, in which she is searching for her own truth and in which she is torn between how she sees herself and who she thinks she needs to be to those around her.

I want to do this by visually staying as close as I can to Eva’s experience of her teenage life. Dialogue will be minimal and will mostly take place in the off-screen auditory landscape of the film; a sort of gossip that conveys the impertinence of her surroundings.

With ‘We Run To Be Free’ I want to portray the complexity of adolescence and explore how we as people make the transition from child to adulthood .

There are a lot of elements that go into making a film like this come to life and showcasing Eva’s story as honestly as possible. In order to make this film, we aim to raise at least 3,500 Euros, and for that we need your help!

Your contributions will go to:

Quote that inspired the maker

LOVE. PEACE. THANK YOU.

Cast & crew

Sara van Oostrum (1994) was born to Dutch parents in Los Angeles and remained in California until moving to Europe to begin her university studies in 2013. In June 2017, Sara graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Audiovisual Arts from RITCS (Royal Institute for Television, Cinema & Sound) with her short film ‘Mijn Mami’.

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Most recently, Sara directed a nine-part television series for VRT entitled ‘SECRETS’. She is currently completing her master’s degree at RITCS in Brussels and is in pre-production on her new short film ‘We Run to Be Free’.

Sara mainly lets herself be inspired by her own experiences. By drawing on her own life and memories, Sara hopes to create characters and stories that audiences can connect to on a deeper and emotional level. It is always her goal to translate the inner experience of a character to the screen.

Raphaël van Oostrum (1996) is an aspiring cinematographer and steadicam operator. Like his sister, Raphaël was born and raised in Los Angeles, California before moving to Belgium for his studies at RITCS.

In June 2018, he will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Cinematography.

Over the years, Raphaël collaborated on various short films with his fellow students, honing his operating and creative skills. He was recently hired as a steadicam operator for a BNP commercial with director Bram Coppens and for the Flemish feature film ‘De Collega’s,’ directed by Jan Verheyden.

Back in 2015, Walther Cuyvers began a solo music project in Ghent, Belgium before forming a full musical ensemble with bandmates Lani Pellegrini, Sam Enthoven and Alexander Le Bris.

The band takes inspiration from everywhere, capturing complex and detailed stories through their music.

While impossible to fit into any particular genre, Walther takes inspiration from many Folk, Indie and Alternative Pop artists.

Recently, they where selected for the prestigious Belgian music contest organized by Studio Brussels, ‘De Nieuwe Lichting 2018.’ In addition, they were selected for ‘Humo’s Rock Rally’ and made it to the Semi Finals.

Eliza Stuyck (1995) is currently studying acting at the Conservatory in Antwerp. Before beginning her studies in Antwerp, she was a student of art sciences at the University of Gent.

In addition to her studies, Eliza appeared in the Flemish television series ‘In Flanders Fields’ directed by Jan Matthys and in Flemish feature film ‘Vincent’, directed by Christophe van Rompaey.

Recently she was cast in the new feature film ‘Canaan’ directed by Jan Bultheel.

Francis Chapman (1999) is a British actor currently studying at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts in London.

Francis will appear next year in Christian Volckman’s ‘The Room’ opposite Olga Kurylenko and was recently cast in the BBC’s adaptation of Victor Hugo’s ‘Les Miserables’ alongside Dominic West, David Oyelowo and Lily Collins.

Elias Vandenbroucke (1994) graduated from the Consevatory in Antwerp for Musical Theater in 2016.

Since then, Elias has been active in both television and theater. He has participated in productions for theater companies ‘Ontroerend Goed,’ ‘Max Last en De Mannschaf’ and has appeared in the Flemish television series ‘Professor-T’ and ‘SECRETS.’

This coming fall, he will be seen in the new Flemish feature film ‘Bastaards’ directed by Mathieu Mortelmans.

Currently, Elias is working with his collective ‘More Dogs’ on a new musical theater production ‘Zeitgeber’ for Orkater theater company. The show will premiere this summer at Theater Aan Zee in Ostend, Belgium.

Comments

Comments

Unknown

Sara you are amazing and if I could Id fund the whole project. Please keep in touch and make sure to be in touch when you are in LA. Much love to you, your bf and family!
Leslie Karten

As many of you know four years ago I started my studies at RITCS School of Arts here in Brussels. I have worked hard, enjoyed myself, failed, succeeded, laughed and cried. I finally know what everyone was talking about when they told me that the years in film school were going to be some of the best years of my life. Till now they have been, it’s a chapter of my life I am really truly going to miss.

But luckily I’m not quite done yet…

So here is the real reason that I am writing to you.

To make it to the finish line and, make my thesis film come to life I need your help. After these four years practicing and experimenting I want to really challenge myself for one last time to make sure I can make something that comes from my heart and represents me as the filmmaker that I want to be. As a result, my project has become quite ambitious financially. So far we have raised 65% of the budget, and to fund the last 35% of my film I have set up a crowdfunding that starts today in the hope to raise the remaining 3,500euros in 40 days.

My thesis film ‘We Run To Be Free’ is about a state of mind.

“BEAUTIFUL, a carefree state of mind for the young, wild, and free.”

This is the state of mind that Eva and her friends find themselves in. Together they are ‘The Beauties’, the girls that can afford to do anything, thinking that they are truly untouchable to the struggles of the world. The Beauties don’t need anything but each other: boys are just there for fun and love is a notion that they have left behind.

However, the world of the beauties is an escape, an illusion that slowly loses its beauty for Eva. But once out of Beautiful…, nothing is ever the same.

"We Run To Be Free” is a story of the first steps toward adulthood; about how Eva continues to escape from her own actions and grief through a facade.

So far we have an amazing crew… starting with my badass brother, Raphaël, who will be literally creating the images of my dreams, and Nathan Naenen, who has been my partner in crime since I started at RITCS.

And to top is off we have a BEAUTIFUL cast including Eliza Stuyck as ‘Eva’ and Francis Chapman and Elias Vandenbroucke as ‘Lucas’ and ‘Alex’ to be Eva’s BEAUTIFUL lovers.

So if you have a passion for film (or for me hihi) and have a little or a lot to spare SUPPORT my dream and help it come true (and get some fun PINK prizes in return)!